Talak'talan
in the Dominion| Assign = First in the Dominion| FinalAssign = | Rank = First| Insignia = | }} Talak'talan was a Jem'Hadar soldier in the service of the Dominion in the 24th century, and was the first Jem'Hadar the Federation has encountered face-to-face in 2370. Description "Talak'talan, like all Jem'Hadar, carries himself with a certain relaxed confidence. He's not the kind of stiff-backed-spit-and-polish Cardassian soldier we're used to. Nor does he swagger like a Klingon. He knows he's the best, and has nothing to prove." Encounters with the Federation Talak'talan quickly distinguished himself as a brilliant soldier, showing excellent tactical and command abilities despite his own lack of experience, and quickly proved he was quite different from the majority of the Jem'Hadar as he was remarkably flexible in his tactics on the field of battle. Talak'talan's tactical genius earned him the rank of and command of a unit of Jem'Hadar soldiers and a squadron of three Jem'Hadar attack ships. In late 2370, Talak'talan and his squad were personally selected by Vorta to end the Alpha Quadrant's respective civilizations "interference" and "offensiveness" in Dominion territory by destroying every ship that came through "The Anomaly" and violated Dominion space. Talak'talan also participated in the destruction of the Bajoran Gamma Quadrant colony, New Bajor (remarking that the Bajoran could fight well for a "spiritual people") and using one of the salvaged padds to write down a list of ships he and his men destroyed. Talak'talan also commanded a vast network of spies in the Alpha Quadrant, which allowed him to gain unprecedented knowledge on the current state of affairs and situations in the Federation and its neighbors, and grew a yearning to fight a Klingon, who the Jem'Hadar see as their equals. Talak'talan later took part in a plan to get Eris into Federation space by pretending to capture her and Commander Benjamin Sisko and Quark on a remote planet. While they were held in custody, Talak'talan transported back to his ship and journeyed to Deep Space 9, where he personally informed Starfleet of Sisko's capture and gave Major Kira Nerys the list of ships and colonies he destroyed, and departed back into the wormhole, effortlessly shirking off DS9's attempts to detain him and prevent him from escaping using the Dominion's advanced technology. Talak'talan returned to the planet, and allowed Sisko, Quark and Eris to escape, but moved to intercept Jake Sisko and Nog in the runabout, . However, two additional runabouts, the and the , and the starship, , under the command of Captain Declan Keogh, arrived to save Sisko. Talak'talan and his men went into battle against the Federation forces, but couldn't prevent Sisko and the runabouts from escaping, so instead Talak'talan ordered one of his crippled ships to crash into the equally-crippled Odyssey, destroying it completely. Talak'talan's destruction of the Odyssey proved how far the Jem'Hadar would go to accomplish their mission (the mission with Eris herself failed due to unforeseen discoveries on Quark's part). Starfleet's xeno-psychologists later analyzed the encounter he had with Starfleet personnel on DS9 as part of their investigations into the (then) mysterious Dominion. (DS9 episode: "The Jem'Hadar") Service in the Dominion War When the Dominion sent many thousands of Jem'Hadar and hundreds of ships and supplies to Cardassia, which had recently joined their society, Talak'talan was among them, and thus served when the Dominion War broke out. Talak'talan was promoted to first and assigned many key missions, with Second Goran'agar as his second-in-command (unbeknownst to them they were monitored by Klingon Imperial Intelligence, like many other leading Dominion commanders, during the conflict). Talak'talan again inspired his Vorta superiors to let him and his men become part of critical missions to the war efforts, such as aiding in the capture of Starbase Deep Space 9. ( ) :Whether Talak'talan survived the conflict is unknown. External link * * Dominion Wars website category:jem'Hadar